MARGARET Kinsella describes her and her husband Frank’s venture into sport horse ownership as “accidental”.

The interest all came from Margaret, who grew up in a non-horsey family but spent her days as a “yard kid” at a riding stables in Howth, Co Dublin. She didn’t buy her first horse until she was in her 20s, with enough money to finance it herself.

However, the mare that started the dream and led the Kinsellas to a medal at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon was Highland Destiny, bought for Mags by her husband.

“The horse I had was so awful and one day at a show someone said to Frank ‘is that your girlfriend, she is going to get killed off that horse!’ and that was it. So he bought her and she turned out to be quite sharp but very talented.

“She went to Joe Owens and show jumped a little and then we started to breed from her. We ended up being accidental owners, it was never our intention,” Mags explained.

The first foal from that Flagmount King-sired mare was Sassie Cassie, foaled in 2005. By Cascaletto St Ghyvan Z, the mare went on to jump up to 1.45m level under Michael Duffy and Glenn McCullough. Her top results include winning a two-star 1.40m in Spain.

“The second foal was Rioghan Rua and she was this tiny chesnut filly. We were wondering where did she come from, Cassie is a huge 17.2hh mare. The next foal was a gelding who had all the ability and none of the heart and we sold him to the States as a seven-year-old. The mare died foaling the next and then that gelding died as a three-year-old.”

Having caught the breeding bug, they put Sassie Cassy in foal last year. “She was a good jumper and a good mare and after her mother died we wanted to get a few coming again so we decided to breed Cassie. She has a beautiful colt foal by Tyson and she is in foal to Orestus.”

So the special line will continue and Mags hopes she will eventually get another filly. “Everyone talks about colts but our fillies have been much luckier than the colts ever have.”

THE WONDER MARE

Undoubtedly, the most special of them all is the formidable 15.1hh Rioghan Rua, who provided Mags and Frank with incredible joy in Tryon last month.

“She went to be broken by James O’Haire who is 6’3. And then she went to Rachel Power to be started off. We were going to sell her, Trish Ryan had a look and said she would be really hard to sell because she was so small but she did think she was talented,” Mags explains.

“Cathal (Daniels) was coming out of ponies and I rang Gerry to see if they could take her. He was the right height and size. He had room in the yard and the rest is history!”

The rest is history, literally. Rua was the smallest horse in WEG, where she helped Ireland to their first medal in the 28-year history of the Games, and Daniels was the youngest rider, turning 22 on the opening day.

“She went from one-star to four-star in three years. She has five championship medals at junior, young rider and now senior level.

“Tryon was amazing. Since Badminton last year (2017), we had to wind her back. We had her really fit and it blew her head. She hasn’t been out of a championship since she was six, she only missed one year because I didn’t want to travel her that far. She had been on the go and she just blew her head so she had most of last year off and we cut back on the fitness work.

“For WEG, she was probably a little under fit, she doesn’t usually have time faults, but it worked in her favour for dressage and show jumping. It will never be beaten, it was the most unbelievable feeling.”

Mags pays credit to her husband for his support in the sport.

“It was great for Frank to be there, most of the financial comes from his hard work. I just find them and pick them. He loves that occasion, it was very sociable and there was a great team spirit. It’s nice to meet the rest of the owners, we don’t often get to do that because everyone is so busy.”

Their other four-star talent is Sammy Davis Junior, who will unfortunately miss out on Pau this weekend due to a knock he picked up at Grove.

“He would have gone to championship only for the fall in Bramham. But he is so talented and one we would be watching for Tokyo.

“For us, having Rua there was so much more special because she is home-bred. It was said a lot that it is the stuff of dream, but it actually is the stuff of dreams. Just as well she was small because otherwise she would have been more saleable and have been gone,” she said with a laugh.

A RARE TALENT

Mags and Frank think the world of their rider and are very close to the entire Galway-based Daniels family.

“He (Cathal) is unbelievable. Having two horses in the top 10 in Le Lion (d’Angers) last weekend, not many in the world that would do that. He is so talented, his work ethic is second to none, horse welfare always comes first, I’ve never heard him blame a horse.

“When he came out of the ring at Badminton, everyone was saying ‘she’s such a bitch’ and Cathal said ‘Mags, her heart nearly came out of her chest’. He never blames the horse. He has learned a lot with the new team. He is like a sponge,” she said.

And she hopes to continue to put four-star horses underneath him. “It gets a bit addictive having them at four-star level – you are watching for the next young one.

“I bought a nice five-year-old at the end of last year for myself who I think is really talented. He is six now but has very low mileage. He is an easy, big-jumping horse. I will give him to Cathal for the winter and see what he thinks.”

Before that, he will go to the Combined Training final in Barnadown with Shauna Finneran of Hidden Valley Farm, another rider Mags thinks a lot of. “I do livery with Shauna. She is so talented, really brilliant. The only way I could do this is to have livery, everything is done and you don’t have to worry.”

Mags and Frank have three small children – Senan and his younger twin sisters, Tegan and Megan – but she is hoping to have some more spare time to get back herself.

“I bought a really nice four-year-old for myself. I will hopefully get back now that the kids are getting a bit older. The girls got their first pony, they love it. For me it’s what I would have wanted as a child so I am happy I can have it for them.”

Mags does not feel that Horse Sport Ireland are doing anything close to enough to support owners in Ireland.

“HSI should be approaching me to help me financially to take embryos off Rioghan Rua. There are not too many mares in the world that have as many championship medals as her and with her good quality Irish breeding. They should be helping me out to take embryos, and be helping to keep them in Ireland. The Irish Horse Gateway – it’s all about selling horses out of the country and I think that is very short-sighted.

“Some of the new initiatives in the industry are good, like the combined training, that is really good to get people out. But they were a bit naughty. They said you didn’t have to be a member of Dressage Ireland to do it, but to be at the final you have to pay your membership – that’s not how it was sold,” she added.